27 April 2009

ATCs, Inchies, And Some Rambling From Me!

I was going to go with Purple Font today but it would just have to be reset after each picture so we'll just go with Green and call it good.
I've been busy with Inchies more than anything else. The ATCs here were all drawn back in 2005. They were at one time a whole picture that hung on my livingroom wall for a few years. I cut that picture up into ATC size and colored it with markers late last week. I was pleased with the outcome! I got eight ATCs out of that picture but for some reason I only count 7 of them here. No biggie I suppose...Enjoy the ATCs. They are all done on illustration board with markers. All are up for trade.








There was an inchie-a-thon this weekend over at AFA (link on the sidebar). All of these were created sometime this weekend.
I traded the mountain lake scene in this batch. My sister Susan did the butterfly on a stick. The rest of them are mine. All done in sharpies on recycled cardstock.
Butterflies....all done in sharpies on recycled cardstock. None of these traded.

This batch wasn't made for the inchie-a-thon, they were all made earlier in the week. Again, sharpies on recycled cardstock.


The mouse in cheese was drawn by sister Susan. She colored the center pink one and the orange and green one on the lower left. I drew all of these with the exception of the mouse. I traded the mouse in cheese and the starfish.



None of these traded. All are, again, sharpies on recycled cardstock.

Here are some really pitiful teddy bears! I did the top right one and the lower left one. Susan did the first two on the top line and Linda did the remaining two. None of these got traded either! Wonder why? LOL
Bunch of Ducks. Linda did the first one in this batch. Susan did the middle one on the second row and the rest of them are mine. I traded the duck in the raincoat and the duck on the top right.
Half a dozen trees done in acrylics on watercolor paper. None of these traded.
The B was done by Susan and the L by Linda. The rest of them are mine. The mountain scene is traded.
Some stars! Yeah, I know that first one doesn't appear to be a star... but that is what Susan intended when she first started it. We all decided it looks like Shaggy from Scooby Doo. So it kind of is a star.... Susan also did the blue star beneath Shaggy. Linda did the bottom right one. I traded the orange one in the middle of the bottom row.
Blue flowers.... acrylics on watercolor paper. None of these traded.
Flowers---The clover in the middle was done by Susan. The rest of them are mine. The three on the top row have been traded.
Leaves....Three of these are traded. The two pink ones and the first green one, if memory serves me correctly.
I added a book read to the list of books read in 2009. I finished it early this morning. For a book that won a pulitzer prize for literature, Beloved wasn't as good a book as I had hoped it would be. It was a struggle to finish it. No clue what the next book will be! I still need to finish one I started awhile back. It's about ghost towns of the old west.
I was gone for a day and a half this past week. That explains why no new posts for so long...and then again, maybe that doesn't explain it but anyway.....
Had a good time away from the nest. Got some sunshine on my face, got dirty as a little boy playing with his trucks in the mud and enjoyed myself thoroughly! I'm ready to go again!
I need to make some envelopes for some stuff that needs sent out. I bought envelopes at the Dollar Store earlier this afternoon but I need some that are a tad smaller than the ones I bought. I need the ones I bought too though.
The postmaster always gives me a hard time when I come to the post office with an armload of envelopes to mail. He says to me, "You come up with some funky stuff to mail!" He was refering to the envelope that stood out like a sore thumb in the last batch I took to the post office. It was a used bubble mailer that I had refurbished by gluing a map to the outside of it. It was really cool looking! It worked! I kept an envelope out of the landfill for one more mailing and didn't spend a dime in doing so. I think for the next envelope I have to make or reuse I'm going to use pages from my Medical Dictionary to cover it with. That should get him going! lol It's all in good fun that he gives me such a hard time. I tell him, "Hey, if not for me bringing you these weird envelopes, what fun would you have at this job?" He just laughs and shakes his head, yes. I'll be seeing him tomorrow.
Well, I'm out of here for the time being. I have things to accomplish today. You all have a fantastic week ahead and collect some hugs along the way!
Peace
831

20 April 2009

Spiders, Zens and a Bit of Rambling From Your's Truly

I've accomplished art, sleeping, doing a bit of laundry and dishes since the last time we gathered here. I'm averaging 12 hours of sleep in a 24 hour period. The dishes HAD to be done, laundry needed attention. Art is like breathing so it had to be done as well. There was a Zentangle-a-thon this weekend over at AFA. The link to AFA is over at the top left of the sidebar.
I could give you a blow by blow account of dishes and laundry, but what fun would that be? I cannot give you a blow by blow of sleeping so you'll have to be content without that...
Art, on the otherhand, I can share.

These first three ATCs were made by Terah. She came to visit me on Friday night while RJ and RW went to Hutch and Brenton was with his dad. She had the house all to herself but was bored so she loaded up Pug Dog and came to my house at 10:30 pm for some art, cooking and general silliness.

Lady Margaret


Flirtation


Eyes on YOU

While I played Cave-In on this wretched machine she sat at my painting table and made these cards. I just love Eyes on YOU! So clever!!! She asked me if I had any vintage women and I pointed her toward an old datebook that's been on the bookshelf for a couple years. She made wonderful ATCs from some of the pages of that old book. Old in that it is 25 years old. She opened it when I handed it to her and said, "Hey, this book is the same age as I am!" :)
I am addicted to playing Cave-In. It is somewhat like Collapse. That monster, Spike, maybe his name is Mike....anyway, that monster is the thing I yell at when a bomb is greatly needed to save that monster's hide. In reality...lol .... REALITY>? .... I'm shaking my head. In reality the concept of the game is to save Spike/Mike from the blocks crushing his hide. The high scores posted for the game are in the 1 million range. I have yet to make more than 330,000some. It is a quest, more than an addicition....I must get more points that that.

Onto more art....

Where's A Gecko When You Need One?- ATC sharpies on recycled greeting card. I wish you could see the texture of this paper. The next 4 cards are made of this same stuff. I got a hella deal on greeting cards at the pharmacy in Smith Center about six months ago. (10 cents each with the envelope!) I used a bunch of those cards as cards for sending out traded ATCs but some of them I cut into ATC size for the simple fact there was a lot of white space which made clean ATC blanks and because the paper these cards are made of is just too darn cool! It takes markers like a champ!

Carnival- ATC sharpies on recycled greeting card. This one is headed to Oklahoma tomorrow.


The Ants Go Marching- ATC sharpies on recycled greeting card. These guys are marching off the Washington State tomorrow.


Small Science ZAT- ATC made for the Zentangle-a-thon. Sharpies on recycled greeting card.


School 45- ATC Sharpies on recycled greeting card. There is no doubt there are 45 fishes in this school cause there's 5 of each color and there are 9 colors of fish. Please feel free to check on those statistics cause I very well could be totally wrong on all that. Counting is NOT my strong suit! Regardless though, how many fishes are there...this card is still called School 45.

Future Frogs- ATC sharpies on heavy chipboard. The card itself is made from a piece from a game. I forget the name of the game these came from but it's a card game ... there are pictures of different standard playing cards on the other side of this card. I think there were like 24 cards in the game, each about 8.5x11.5 inches...I cut them all down into ATC blanks and got quite a few of them. I usually do collage on them cause they are so sturdy but they have blank backsides so drawing on them works as well.
When I drew this picture I was thinking about what my pond out front used to look like. I need to tackle that pond and get it back to a living state. It has water in it...but I doubt there is much life in it. It hasn't had frogs and lily pads in it for over five years now....that needs to be remedied!
Eye Circle ZAT- ATC (What else could it be called?) Sharpies on white cardstock. It is the only black and white zentangle I made for the ZAT.
Zentangles really don't have any rules to them. You just pick up a writing instrument and let the pen go where it wants. It's kinda like channeling spirits...let your mind wander and the instrument will follow. I don't feel like my zens have reached their potential until they are as colorful as I can make them! I do enjoy the b&w zens that others create and I collect zens of only b&w along with colorful ones.


Camping ZAT- ATC sharpies on heavy cardstock. This one is headed to Oklahoma as well.


The Fright!- ATC- Sharpies on heavy cardstock (same stuff as the future frogs). I dedicate this one to Terah. It is headed to Washington State as soon as I get 2 more spider ATCs done. I dedicate it to Terah cause she is deadly afraid of spiders. I give her a hard time about that, but I do understand the fears. She hasn't seen this card but she will laugh like crazy when she does.
I started the book, Beloved by Toni Morrison this afternoon. I'll have it finished before the weekend rolls around again. Need to keep on top of the goal of reading 50 books again this year.
I might have inchies to show you all next time I post. That's on my agenda....to add to that goal today.

Until again I come to yak to myself and anyone who happens along, be good to one another, give a smile when you feel like frowning and collect your hugs.
Peace
831

15 April 2009

A Few More Inchies and Some ATCs

We have 12 more inchies to add to the total of 1000 for the year. These colorful little sheep put us at 318. Still a long way to go before I reach my goal of 1000. Plugging right along...


These sheep are all going to Indiana tomorrow.



Mr. Sun ATC- Sharpies on watercolor paper. Sometimes pencil marks will erase through sharpies. It doesn't work so well on watercolor paper for some reason so you can see the pencil lines on the face of Mr. Sun. And again, this ATC is much more vibrant in hand than this scan shows.


Hide and Seek ATC- Sharpies on heavy cardstock. I really like how this one turned out, even with the washed out colors in the scan.


Happy Spring ATC- Sharpies on the rough side of photopaper. The photopaper is a bit flimsy so it is backed with heavy cardstock to give it stability. The colors didn't wash out so much in this scan.



Colorful Fishes ATC- Sharpies on heavy cardstock.


2060 ATC- Sharpies on heavy cardstock. The photograph I used for reference for this drawing was taken in Idaho. I changed it up a lot! The barn in my drawing is somewhat different from the barn in the photograph and the numbers on the mailbox are nowhere near to being the numbers in the photograph. That actually looks like my own mailbox! Cattywhompas and all! I am pleased with the outcome of this one.

Enjoy the eye candy today!
Go out and get you some hugs as well. You know the lack of hugs in a daily life is not a good thing for a body. We all need all the hugs we can get. Go find a little kid and they will probably give you more hugs than you can handle! Especially a little kid that likes you!
Be good to one another!
Peace
831

11 April 2009

Easter Eve

Not much going on in my world. A bit of rain, two trips in one day, a little art....the muse seemed to have bunnies on the brain so I gave her her head and let her run!



This is pink bunny. Pink Bunny is pretty happy except for the fact she has a horrid orange bow tied to her ears!

This is Mad Rabbit. I didn't mean to make this rabbit look angry, but that is the expression on his face! He's traded. I've yet to decide what I traded him for though. I'll get that done soon.

This is First Day of School. I wish I could tell you I drew that picture. I didn't. It is a paper napkin covered in glue and lightly sprinkled with pink irredescent glitter. Then I covered up the edges with purple silk ribbon. Oh and let's not forget the plastic pink flower with a little brad holding it to the card. It's cute. But it took very little effort to put it together. Effort should show!
The boat inchies you saw in the last post are in an envelope awaiting their trip to Cyprus. Mailing art is somewhat like when a friend leaves. You're never sure if they will make the journey unscathed yet you wish them the very best without you. The USPS cannot to be trusted to make sure each and every piece of mail that enters its system is delivered to where it was addressed. It's like gambling! I don't like to lose in MailArt Slots.
There are 5 of my cards floating around in the abyss of the back room of a post office somewhere between Kansas and Wisconsin. They've been lost for probably six months now. Pretty close to that if not. I keep hoping some day someone will get that envelope moving again. Won't that be a surprise to find! "The Ogre" is one of those cards. I don't remember the other four right off the top of my head.
"The Ogre" has a photograph of a chain link fence. That is all that came out in the picture. I will have to find "The Ogre"'s file and show him to you all. He was really cool. Behind that fence in this photograph is a lot for wrecked cars. My son's little pickup truck that he wrapped around a lightpole after running a red light was in that lot. There was a PT Cruiser involved in getting the boy wrapped around the lightpole. RJ fell asleep at the wheel in the middle of rush hour traffic on the busiest street in town. He was on his way home from having worked all night himself. He now owns that PT Cruiser ... on paper anyway....and the goose-egg-sized lump on the top of his head went away without doing too much damage to the boy.
I like instant noodles. You know the kind you toss in the microwave or steep in boiling water? Don't bother buying the cheddar cheese flavored ones. Instant Lunch is they are called. They aren't very good. Some thing ticks me off about these instant lunches. I forget which brand it is but there are noodles that come in paperboard boxes and I can throw one of them in the microwave without worrying about it. These Instant Lunch things come in a styrofoam cup and you cannot cook it in the microwave. That styrofoam cup is absolutely unneccesary! Why can it not be a paperboard bowl? I do not like Stryofoam. Had I known this when I bought them, I would have left them on the shelf.
I had to go shopping earlier this evening. HAD to. I hate shopping. Fred went along for the ride. He was ready to get out of the van when we got back from our 80 mile round trip trip. His leg bothers him when he can't stretch out for long periods of time. He waited patiently in the van while I went inside Walmart to get him and his kitties some chow and those grandkids some Easter stuff. I kept the peanut butter eggs for myself when I seen how much is in all those baskets sittin in my laundry room right now. Tomorrow will be a big day!
There is an a-thon going on over at AFA (the link's up there on the sidebar to the left). Those rabbits I showed you earlier are for the IMPSCAT. I thought the SCAT sounded quite alright enough, but some people are little shy, that's not the word..................disgusted by the meaning of the word scat. SCAT stands for Stamping and Collage a Thon. It has nothing to do with what a lumberjack finds after the bear has been in his camp. So to keep everyone (but me apparently) happy, the name was changed to IMPSCAT....meaning Improvised Stamping and Collage A Thon. It really doesn't matter to me. I just like to vent as much as the next guy some days.
Have a Happy Easter! I'll come yak at you all another day.
Here's some hugs....
Peace
831

05 April 2009

A Bunch of Devalued Money Turned Into Artwork

I finally finished the money trees and money fishes requested by a couple gals. They will be going in the mail come tomorrow. Here they are for you to look at. They are all nothing more than shredded money, some magazine pages with the right colors I needed, copy paper with the fish printed off Google Images, a bit of novelty yarn, a boatload of glue and some diamond glaze on the fishes. All that stuff is attached to a gameboard cut into 4 x 4 inch squares. No danglies, nothing on the backs but my signature. I know they all look pretty much alike, but it's kinda fun to see them all together and notice the little nuances between them.








Not much of anything happening at Chez Donna today. The wind is blowing like crazy, there's snow on the ground, the dog smells like that dead deer across the highway and the cat presented me with a hair ball this morning. The day can only get better from here!
The school bus hit that deer a couple weeks ago early in the morning on its rounds to pick up country kids for school. No one hurt in the crash with the exception of the deer. There are black marks on the highway in front of Ma's house where the little bus made contact with the deer. Fred found the damned thing a few days ago and has dragged a few bones home. I'm sure the coyotes have been feasting on the smelly critter. I took the deordorizor after that dog yesterday, he smelled to high heaven. I did it again this morning after I let him back in from his morning constitutional. He doesn't like the deordorizor, but I didn't like the smell of the boy!
The cat that presented me with a slimy hairball hacked up on the deskroom floor was Doob. She's a long haired cat but she seldom hacks up hairballs. Just seemed the thing to do this morning apparently.
I knew it was going to snow last night. There isn't a lot of snow out there, just a heavy dusting that the wind has blown around. It is WINDY~! Thermometer says it is almost 38F out there but with that wind, it feels a whole lot colder! The sun's ashining and gives the illusion that it is warmer out there than it actually is. And if that wind weren't ablowing...it wouldn't be too bad out.
The wheatfield behind the house is greening up nicely. This small bit of moisture (snow) that's fallen in the last two days will kickstart it and get it well on its way to growing properly. It is a treat to me to look out the deskroom window and see that expanse of my favorite color! The herd of deer that are there occasionally are a bonus. I'm pretty sure that herd is minus one of its members though.

I tried to get the camera to talk to the PC yesterday so I could start taking pictures again but the damned thing refuses to cooperate! So, instead of getting frustrated with it all, I just put the dern thing away and will try again another day.
Susan called and wants me to brave the wind and cold to go to her house. I haven't decided if I want to brave the wind and cold to walk across the backyard to her house. I can hear that wind rippling the tin roof on this house! It is coming straight out of the north and I might get blown off course if I try to traverse that westerly path to her house! I would definetly have to put on more clothes than I have on now to go out in that gale force wind! Jammies and housecoat aren't gonna cut it!
I'm out of here for now though. I might be back later with more art to show you all. I am fixing to go to the painting table and do an elephant picture of some sort. Don't think I'll be painting the fool critter but I don't just paint at the painting table, I just call it that is all.
You all have a stellar Sunday wherever you might be! Get yourself some hugs today! They don't carry over from day to day, you have get new ones all the time! Be good to one another!
I shall yak at you all another time!
Peace
831

04 April 2009

Picture Saturday again again


I can't remember if I showed you all the boat inchies or not. Sharpies on stiff card. I've traded all of these. They're headed to Cyprus as soon as Kathryn decides if she wants them all. This 12 puts me at 306 inchies completed for thus far this year.
Teddy was drawn for the Stamp-a-thon this weekend. The T is a stamp colored with sharpies as is Teddy. He's headed to Australia.

Baboon was done for the SAT as well. Again sharpies all around. The B is glued to the background.

Anteater was done for the SAT also. Sharpies all around. I knew that First Animal Encyclopedia would come in handy someday!

Tomato was done for the SAT too. Sharpies all round again. I really like my sharpies at this point in time for some reason. Maybe because they don't make a mess and I sit at my desk to do them instead of having to drag out a thousand different things.

The Spider's Lair - Sharpies on heavy cardstock.
The Executives- Sharpies on heavy cardstock.

Yak was done for the SAT....Sharpies all around again. Heavy cardstock as well. You'll all be seeing "heavy cardstock" a lot till I get through about 500 ATCs. I'm hoping to find some more flash cards made out of it.

Teddy On Pink--sharpies on heavy cardstock

Robot- done for the SAT this weekend. Sharpies all around along with the R being a rubber stamp.

Questionable Flowers- This one is drawn on an insert from junk mail from Direct TV. I've no use for Direct TV as I don't even own a TV! So what better thing to do with the trash than turn it into art? There ya have it! Text and all! It's attached to heavy cardstock.

Migration--Sharpies on heavy cardstock. Why migration for the title? There's a couple of reasons....there's a goose flying south and lots of folks migrate to the seashore when the geese fly south. So, migration.

Life On 42nd Avenue-- Sharpies on heavy cardstock.

Dragonfly Invasion -- Sharpies on heavy cardstock.

Direct TV Guy-- Some more of that insert from the junk mail. Sharpies, attached to heavy cardstock.

Boy-- I made this one for the SAT, but there wasn't enough room on the card to put the B so it doesn't qualify to be a SAT card. It's kinda juvenile anyway...

Black and Red Butterfly-- Sharpies on heavy cardstock.
Ant- Sharpies on heavy cardstock. Made for the SAT.
Aardvark-- Made for the SAT. Sharpies on heavy cardstock all around.
This is the extent, with the exception of the inchies, of what I've been up to this weekend thus far. We still have Sunday to go through.
The weather has turned nasty. It is trying to snow outside. The wind's kicked up, there's rain falling down and I am ready to call this Saturday DONE!
I shall yak at you all another day!
Don't forget to go collect your hugs and give a few in the process! Have yourselves a wonderful Sunday!
Peace!
831

Followers